Happy ‘Share The Love’ Day

After 23 years of being alive and about half of that time spent sulking over Valentine’s Day and wishing for my bouquet of red roses, box of chocolates, or diamond ring, I still tend to wonder why this time of the year causes so many tears and sadness among single and not-so-single people alike!

A friend of mine posted a photo of a delicious chocolate cake yesterday and written on the cake was “HAPPY ‘SHARE THE LOVE’ DAY!” For so many years now I have wondered how to make it through this commercially endorsed holiday without muttering the words “God I’m lonely” but when I saw this photo it dawned on me like a girl waiting to be kissed by a vampire (*note: not actually into vampires)!

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of Valentine is “a sweetheart chosen or greeted on this day”. But who said Valentine’s Day has to be solely dedicated to those with sweethearts? Valentine’s Day isn’t a day that needs to be dreaded by single men and women because when it really comes down to it, Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love – past, present and future love. And while Hallmark might make it all about romance, whose to say we can’t celebrate ALL forms of love? I love my family, I love my friends, and I love the idea of love! While I have been single (happily) for a number of years now, Valentine’s Day gives me an opportunity to celebrate love with the people in my life, for the people who have found ‘true love’ what ever that might be, and to celebrate the love yet to come!

Everyone should feel loved every day, so next time you are at home feeling sorry for yourself, wishing you had someone to shower you with gifts, just remember, there is probably someone out there you know feeling the exact same way. Or, if you are lucky enough to have someone say ‘I love you’ on February 14, don’t forget the other people in your life who may also need to feel the love. So Share The Love!

I for one put away the soapy DVD’s, lonesome bottle of wine and Cadbury chocolates this year, and instead, embraced a new meaning of Valentine’s Day.

On that note, I leave you with this brilliant song…

Happy ‘Share The Love’ Day!

Ava Jones
xx

Sayonara 2011

New Years Eve… An excuse to drink excessively, eat like there is no tomorrow, kiss a stranger, drunk dial, tell someone you love them, and stay up past midnight…

New Years Eve has never been my favourite night of the year. As a young girl I would watch countless movies and dream of one day experiencing a magical NYE just like ‘them’. You know the movies I mean: Girl meets boy, boy breaks girl’s heart, girl goes to some amazing NYE party, wearing an amazing dress. Girl rushes through crowed to find boy she met earlier in the movie, boy2 kisses girl, boy2 and girl live happily ever after in marital bliss wearing amazing clothes. Not to far fetched right? Wrong!

My New Years were spent with family and friends, burying time capsules, dressing in silly outfits and searching for the millennium bug. Until I turned 18! Following this milestone birth year, midnight on the corresponding New Years were spent breaking curfew and being grounded for the remainder of the holiday break, sitting in a bar toilet nursing a friend, leaving a party early to hangout at my parents party instead, or suffering sever heat stroke. Not in that order.

To this day, I still dream of my ‘perfect’ NYE, but the older I get, the more I realise there is no such thing. While I have had a few disasters since turning 18, the best I have experienced was a casual party with a few close friends, hanging by a pool, drinking beer and eating pizza.

This year will be much the same. But my perspective on New Years has changed. It’s no longer about the ‘magical, romantic’ night but the belief that the new year will bring success, love, dreams, and hope.

New Years Eve brings a new start to a ‘new life’ as we set our resolutions for the time ahead. Whether it is the cliche resolutions of weight loss, financial planning, exercise, or you’ve decided on resolutions that are a little more in depth – if there is something in your life you want to change, now is the time to make the decision, make the move, and change it. Do it now.

As we say sayonara to the backend of 2011, and welcome 2012, we should be grateful for all we have experienced and the lessons from our past, and all that the future has to offer.

Happy New Year – here is to a magical 2012!

Wishing you all the success, love and happiness for the future.

Ava Jones
Xx

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful day!

Drink, eat and be merry!

Ava Jones,
Xx

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

CHRISTMAS!

It is that time of the year already… Christmas trees are decorated in the windows of homes, pretty coloured lights are flashing at the doorstep, roads are chaotic with an influx of cars rushing to get to work and do their Christmas shopping all at the same time, shopping centres are coated with an onslaught of people stressed, frustrated and wallets empty, Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas boom through the loud speakers of every corner shop, and bottles of wine and bubbles are popped left, right and centre as people celebrate the coming end of the year and the start of the silly season…

The start of December brings with it an unusual reluctance to go shopping – unlike my shopping addiction displayed the other 11 months of the year, Christmas is the one and only time shopping takes the least priority and continually moves down my To Do List. Now with only eight days until Christmas, I am going to brave the streets of Adelaide for the final touches of my shopping list and wishing I hadn’t left it all last-minute so I could do it from the comfort of my computer and ensure deliveries reached me in time… Santa, all I want for Christmas this year is… a time machine!

Unfortunately, you can always tell when Santa Clause is coming to town. At what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year, people seem to be so miserable. Smiles are replaced with unpleasantly determined faces that would rival Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, thank you’s are given as backs are turned, and each line is a reminder that patience is in fact, a virtue.

Meanwhile, in spite the miserable, bah-humbug Scrooges scouring their way down the streets of Adelaide or any city, each business wipes the dust off their boxed up shiny ornaments. Jingle Bells dangle in the windows, surrounded by baubles, angels, glitter and flashing lights. The thing is, despite the stress created by Christmas, people tend to forget the meanings of the inspirational time of the year. Each light, angel or star on top of a Christmas Tree brings with it a reminder of hope. Whether you celebrate the day for its Christian meaning, or whether you embrace the paganism traditions of the holiday, Christmas brings with it hope for a new year ahead – it brings a reality of magic to a child, hope to a family, and reminds us that sometimes in life there are things bigger than what we know the other 364 days of the year.

I, for one, LOVE Christmas. The decorations, the Christmas baking, the celebration, the wine, the family and the friends, the love, the hope and the endless laughter that Christmas can bring to those that embrace the festivities. T’was the night before Christmas (or week before), and l have got baking fever. Cooking a roast lamb, a roast turkey plus a million other Christmas sweets and treats, all to be shared at a long table with some of the people I love most – my friends and family. While at times I forget why Christmas is such a fantastic time of the year and why I love it oh so much, it is a time where I wake up to reality when everything else in the world seems so wrong and remember that I am incredibly fortunate in all aspects of my life. It reminds me that somewhere out there, there is someone who won’t wake up Christmas morning with presents under their tree, there is a child out there going to bed on Christmas eve without the hope of Santa and Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer visiting him that night, or a family who won’t get to share a delicious meal on Christmas night with all of their loved ones around one table. Christmas is a time for family and friends, and for us to remember and be grateful for the important things in our life.

This year, this Christmas, do something for someone else in need. Give a gift to a child who may not get their Christmas wish this year, donate some money to a charity, smile at someone who may need a bit of light to their day, or lend some of your time to someone who may need a shoulder. Meanwhile, don’t forget to also treat yourself this Christmas, and send your letter to the fat guy in a red suit. On my list? A brand new wardrobe and an overseas Holiday please? Santa Baby, hurry down the chimney.

So what will you be doing this year? As for me, I will be home for Christmas…

May you be blessed with all the happiness, laughter and love in the world this year! Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

With all the love in the world,

Ava Jones
xx

If you can

My table decorations

The

Hair, make-up and lifes forgotten luxuries

When did beautifying our selves become a chore? The more I stroll the streets for inspiration, the more I realise the older women get, the less care we take in the way we look… But why?

At just 23 years old, sometimes doing my make-up, styling my hair, and painting my nails seems all too much before my 9am coffee. I am all for natural beauty, and giving our skin time to breathe in ‘natural’ air, but my morning ritual has taken a beating when it comes to perfecting my presentation.

I love make-up and I always have. Ever since my Mum bought my first make-up kit at the age of six – it was labelled ‘Polly Pocket’ and was very pink, glittery and of course, plastic. I use to sit there for hours ‘doing Mum’s make-up for the ball’ or adding to Barbies’ already over painted face and a new hair style, occasionally involving scissors! As I matured so did my love for hair and make-up… I have styled girls for formals, graduations and other big events. I have read an endless number of books, watched just as many ‘how to’ YouTube clips and spent way too many hours practicing new looks and techniques on myself. I would rarely leave the house without at least a base, and always carried mascara and lip gloss in my bag wherever I went!

These days, things have changed. I read an article by Zoe Foster this week – read here (if you are reading my blog, but don’t know who she is, then you better look it up stat! Author, writer, blogger etc – did someone say ‘living the dream’?) and it got me thinking, when did spending hours on my hair and make-up become such a rarity? At the ripe-old-age of 23, I find sleep more important than hair, and longer showers have become a preference over wearing eye shadow… Don’t get me wrong, on occasion I still love doing my make-up for a Saturday night, and getting my hair blow-dried is one of my favourite luxuries – but it has become just that, a luxury. I hate to say it, but I thought only ‘older’ women lose their zing for beauty! Even noticing this at a young age, I always wondered why? What is an extra few minutes in the morning to hide those black-bags, add a bit of colour to the lip and lengthen those eyelashes? Now I am ‘older’ I am still wondering, why?

I am not saying everyone should look like we are about to step out onto the red carpet, in fact, I can’t stand those girls/women who get up at the crack of dawn every morning to do their hair, lather fake tan and paint their face, and I still think natural is a million times better than looking more made-up than a geisha. But, I do think women of every age, size and marital status, should feel the best they possibly can. We all have days we don’t wear any make-up or do our hair – hair elastic, headbands and dry shampoo were invented for a reason after all – but wearing a little bit of concealer, or even just dabbing on a bit of lip colour, goes a long way in making ourselves feel womanly and beautiful!

In saying this, today, for the first time since before I discovered foundation, I braved Rundle Mall in Adelaide with no make-up. It was a milestone and felt liberating while also making me feel lazy and unattractive. While I do believe skin needs its time without make-up and I would love to avoid foundation more often to be able to brave the streets in confidence with much clearer skin, next time I will at least have the eyelashes and hairstyle to justify it.

Here is to an attractive and pampered weekend!

Ava Jones
xx